Page 14 of The Vampire and the Tattooist (The Vampire and Series Book 4)

Ian couldn’t believe that Olay Ivanov had been involved in everything that was going on. In his and Kevin’s research on him, they found no connection between the Russian or the witches.

Once Gabe left to go see the Vamps, the rest of them had walked into Leonard’s secret room. Ian was expecting something small, but this room was massive. There were bookcases filled with folders, cabinets filled with files, and a laptop.

Kayden and Sean had started looking through the folders on the shelf, Neill was going through the paperwork found on the desk, Ian was going through filing cabinets, and Ivan was trying to hack into Leonard’s computer.

It was in one of these cabinets that he found paperwork involving the Russian. There was a whole file on children Ivanov had sent to Leonard, but nothing yet about where any safe houses were.

“Am I the only one surprised at how much stuff is in here?” Sean asked generally.

“I’m still wondering how all of this was going on under our noses and not only did we not know, but you vamps didn’t know, either,” Ian said, frowning.

“It makes you wonder what else has been happening that we don’t know about,” Neill said.

“I wouldn’t beat yourself up about this. Don’t forget witches were involved. They could have used magic to cover so much up,” Kayden said, flicking through a folder. “Here’s something. It”s a list of houses and I’m guessing warehouses. They all have lines through them, so I guess they’re no longer in use. But I’m wondering if it would be worth going to look at them.”

“It would give us a good idea on what type of house or dwelling they use and an idea of the locations they like to use,” Ivan said before he scowled at the screen. “Just unlock, dammit.”

“Try hitting it,” Ian said to him. “That’s what I usually do.”

“No, I’ve never been beaten by a computer, and I’m not about to let a mad witch break my streak.”

Sean leant over the desk and touched the computer, grinning. “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo.”

Everyone laughed until Ivan said, “Holy crap, that worked!”

“Really?” Sean asked, as surprised as everyone else.

“No, idiot,” Ivan said, laughing.

“Well, it was worth a try,” Sean said, shrugging.

“I have other tricks I can use,” Ivan said and went back to getting lost in computers.

“Oh,” Sean suddenly said. “Leonard was called The Master, if that helps.”

Ivan smiled. “Probably. Let me try something,” he typed in something then smiled. “I’m in.”

“What was his password?” Ian asked.

“Masters of the Universe 1.”

“Gah, what a twatwaffle,” Kayden muttered, not looking up from his folder.

“Here’s something. I clicked into his calendar, and it looks like he’s shorthanded his entries. There’s nothing in for today, but tomorrow evening it says, ‘MC 2 Dks.’”

They all looked at him. “MC to Dks?” Kayden asked.

“The M and C are capitalized, the two is the number 2, and the D is capitalized but the k and s are small,” Ivan told them.

“So, move children to… somewhere,” Ian said, thinking.

“But what could Dk mean?” Sean asked.

“Docks?” Ian asked. “I mean, it’s only about thirty miles to the nearest port. What if the children are being loaded into a container and shipped out from there? Ivan, can you run a search on his system and look for any mention of crates and ships.”

“I can do that. Give me a sec.”

“Kayden, are any of the files you’re looking through named?” Ian asked him.

Kayden looked. “With shorthand. Let me look and see if I can find anything that mentions Dks.”

“This would be much easier and quicker if Gabe was here. He could just send his magic out and look for what we needed,” Sean said.

“Can you not just use your wand and pull the information out?” Ian asked him.

Sean looked at Kayden, who shrugged. “No idea, to be honest. It won’t hurt to try.”

“Go on, babe, give it a go,” Sean said to Kayden.

Kayden grinned and grabbed his wand, putting his intentions into his magic and then flicking his wand around the room.

Suddenly, a secret draw flew open.

“It worked,” Kayden said, sounding and looking shocked.

“Well done,” Ian said, walking to the draw. “That’s impressive. We would never have found that drawer,” he said, looking at it before picking up the paperwork and starting to flick through it.

Sean got up and hugged Kayden. “Well done.”

“This is it. It lists the location the children are at and gives their names and species. Looks like they’re being moved tomorrow from one location to the docks. The container is due to be packed onto a cargo ship bound for Columbia,” Ian said, reading through it. “They’re scheduled to be moved from their current location early tomorrow evening. The boat leaves at midnight.”

“How are they going to get the kids out of their present location, to the docks, and onto a container without being seen? Neill asked.

“Either drugging them or using magic,” Sean said.

“A portal maybe?” Ian suggested. “We need to move out and rescue those children.” He grabbed his phone and dialled Kevin again.